Gather Email Ettiquette- Stop The Spam

It's the bain of most everyone's existance here at Gather. Those emails sent out to everyone, most often used to get people to read or reply to something someone has posted.

First, let me just say that this is in no way geared towards any one person- but rather, a gentle reminder to all who send out Gather mail to their entire friends list.

Let's start with the subject. Aside from providing one, please make it relevant to the subject of the email itself. If you are writing to tell us all that you just posted an article, and want people to read it, then own up to it in the subject. Don't do something like, "Hey!", because yeah, it'll get more people to look, thinking it's not another spam-mail. Instead, own up to the fact that you want people to give you replies, and say something like, "Hey, I just posted an article, please read it!" for the subject.

Don't play it off like you don't know what I'm talking about, either. All the people who regularly send out mass emails here have done it.

Let's move on. After typing in the subject, you get to decide which of your 500 closest friends here on Gather are special enough to be a recipient. Yes, usually all 500 are.

BUt, let's at least show a bit of respect towards all 500 of them, and put all their names in the BCC section, NOT the TO section. Why? It's simple! BCC means Blind Carbon Copy. All the people will receive your mass email, but without having to wait 10 minutes for it to load, then scroll down 5 pages to find the actual 3 line message hidden in the very bottom.

We don't need to see visual proof that you have 500 friends. It's not neccessary. And it's rude towards the people who actually open it up to read it, too.

Next- remember the story of the boy who cried wolf. If you REALLY think something you posted is of immediate importance and interest to 500 people, then let us know. But keep in mind, the more often you have something "VERY IMPORTANT", the less often people will take the time to even open the email, let alone follow the link- if you thought far enough ahead to provide a link, that is.

Which brings us to links. If you seriously think your article/video/picture/comment/etc is something everyone must read, then think ahead enough to provide a link. I'm not going to go chasing it down, and I know most others won't, either. So, if it's that important, take the time to proof read what you want to post, and provide a link to it- especially if it's not your own content you want to show people.

Lastly, condense what you want to show us. If you know you want everyone to see all of the images and articles you post each day, don't send an email out every time. Instead, show some restraint, and at the end of the day, send 1 email. Or better yet, once a week.

Sure, this all takes more time, but I can tell you from personal experiance that myself and at least half the others on your forward list will be FAR more likely to read something if you don't send out spam all the time.

I know you think your child/kitten/neighbor/parent/roommates new picture/video/story is the most interesting thing in the world, and that it only gets better every day, but show some restraint and expect that if you are on someone's friends list- they'll see it.

For those of us constantly inundated with email after email, especially by those who disregard any sort of ettiquette, well- there's always the "Block Sender" button.

The person remains on your friends list, you can still enjoy what they post, without the constant "Read me! Read me!" posts. In fact, I have almost 50 people on my block sender list, and it makes for a much more enjoyable day without having to scan through mass emails all day long.

And if you are wondering if you're on my blocked list- I do NOT block unless you repeatedly send out mass emails- like 5-10 a week. One or two here and there doesn't bug me, and yes, I do read through quite a few mass emails. I even follow them, and check out what the person wanted seen. I just don't believe anyone should be inundated with hundreds of them every day.